


Operation: Child Comfort

by Coop500



Category: Borderlands (Video Games)
Genre: Borderlands 3 - Freeform, Claptrap is mentioned, G/T, Gen, Macro/Micro, Platonic Cuddling, Protectiveness, Shrinking, Soft Vore, Zane being nice to a child, safe vore
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-11-17
Updated: 2019-11-17
Packaged: 2021-02-08 00:22:40
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 9,007
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21466972
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Coop500/pseuds/Coop500
Summary: Sort of a what if little fic of when Zane and the others first arrive on Sanctuary.Zane is tasked to finding a child on the ship, but happens across something far more delicate than your average child.
Comments: 6
Kudos: 16





	Operation: Child Comfort

**Author's Note:**

> Weee yes I have been playing Borderlands 3 and ZANE IS AMAZING, favorite playable male character in the series by far. My first story with him though, sorry if he's a bit OOC/If I got his accent wrong. 
> 
> WARNING: This story contains soft, non-fatal and gentle vore, meaning one person swallows another whole, but don't worry no one is harmed by this and it's done in a protective, safekeeping sense.

Space, it was a little weird each time to be not on solid ground, to not even be on a planet. Zane had done it plenty of times though, he travelled the galaxy for rich folk, to kill or spy on whoever they needed him to, most often it was each other. But when Claptrap pushed the ship too far and caused a hole in it, it was a bit weird to be floating, not that he complained, he actually found it to be kind of fun for the short period it went on. Once it was 'fixed', if one could even call it fixed, things were back to normal. Even if only layers of steal and such kept them from the big black unknown. Lilith, their Siren commander, told him to check on the crew, only to find out Claptrap locked most of them in one room, for... some reason.

As he let them out, one woman stopped before him, looking as if she wanted to ask him something. Zane quirked an eyebrow and waited a moment, before he spoke up. "Is something the matter? " He asked though he could tell the answer looked to be yes. The woman took a breath, fidgeting with her hands. "U-uhm, yes... When that crazy robot locked us in here, one of us got away... I mean, s-she's not part of the crew but we b-brought her along anyway b-because we couldn't just leave her alone... She's just a child, Vault Hunter, please, can you find her? " The woman asked, knowing it was probably the least of his worries right now but she hoped that maybe he could take a few minutes to look around for her.

He had to look around anyway to find the others like Marcus and such so he figured why not? "Aye, I'll search around for the little kid. " He answered. Zane hadn't met many children in his time, mostly due to his line of work they didn't often cross paths, but he had nothing against them, in fact whenever he could, he enjoyed telling them some of the more... child friendly stories of his past. On Pandora children were even more of a rare sight, probably with all the bandits and creatures willing to make a meal of them and the lack of... family people on Pandora as a whole. "Thank you Vault Hunter, she's got to be around here somewhere. I-I'll get back to work, don't worry. " She told him before she walked away with the others.

Zane went about to explore the ship further, keeping his eyes peeled for any signs of the little one. He was working his way to Tannis's lab, when he saw movement at the corner of his organic eye. He looked, only to see nothing... but he was sure something went down this way, something small, like a rat. He turned away from the lab and instead walked to where he saw the movement, looking around the corner. Still nothing obvious, but there was a lot of boxes and bottles of whatever laying around, she'd have to be pretty small to hide in this stuff but it was worth looking. Zane started in the middle and began searching the best he could, his slimmer body did help in this, though he was still not that small, not as small as a little girl by any means.

He moved one box he couldn't see around and was greeted by wide, frightened eyes. It was the girl! She was a little thing, certainly smaller than a child should be, with only being the size of a small mouse roughly, certainly in the upper single digits in age based on her face though. She hugged her knees to her chest, black hair tied back in a ponytail which was draped over her right shoulder. She wore simple clothing, not rags but nothing fancy either, the crew was taking care of her to some degree at least. She looked as if she wanted to run from him but he sort of had her cornered, not intentionally but that's just kind of how it happened. "Hey there girl, are you alright? " He asked quietly, trying to keep his voice friendly and light sounding, even offering her a gentle smile in an attempt to show he meant no harm. He had no idea how she became so tiny though, surely she wasn't always that way?

The impossibly small child still looked scared, but she did answer his question. "I'm... I'm okay mister. " She huddled up more, as if she wasn't small enough. He could barely hear her tiny voice, but he managed to. "Why are you hiding over here though? " Zane asked while he decided to crouch down, to appear less looming and scary to the young girl. It seemed to help, as her arms relaxed a little and seemed to be less tense, but she didn't trust him still quite yet. "I'm s-scared... we're in space.... I d-don't like space... and e-everything is so big n-now.... D-did you see a-a gun with legs around?" She explained, before she sniffed, a few tears forming in her eyes that she wiped away. The poor dear was afraid of being up here and with Claptrap making holes in the ship, she had pretty much every right to be scared. But what could he do about it for her?

"Hey now, we were floating earlier, that was gas wasn't it? " He asked excitedly, hoping to get her to see the fun side of all this and not be so scared. Instead she gave him a funny look, a nervous one at that. Obviously the floating thing was probably what she didn't like, plus she didn't seem to understand what he said. "I mean… fun? " He added slowly, using a more common term for the poor dear. She shook her head in response and buried her face into her knees again. "Okay not fun, alright. Well... Everyone's still alive and we're not moving right now. As for your question about that gun..." He pointed out then trailed off. A gun with legs? He hadn't seen one on the ship yet but he knew of them, even used a few. They were a type of tediore guns, pretty amusing to watch them chase bad guys around. "Not on the ship, no. Why do you ask? " Did this gun have something to do with her new size?

The girl peeked up at him now, though she didn't speak right away he could tell she wanted to, she just needed to find the right words. "I-It shot me... and t-that's when I became small... " She explained, so it was some kind of shrinking gun or something? How strange... Suddenly there was a crash behind Zane and the tiny girl yelped, scurrying behind a discarded soda can while Zane turned his head to see what was going on. It was the little gun with legs! It was a handgun and it knocked over some cardboard boxes that were messily stacked earlier. It 'saw' Zane and quickly waddled off, then a small woman with an army helmet was soon running by them, seeming to be chasing the little contraption. "Get back here!" It was Moze, one of the other Vault Hunters.

Zane blinked before he shrugged, she seemed to be keeping it busy, he could join to help later, once this tiny girl was taken care of. He looked back to where he last saw her and realized she was missing! Oh boy... He carefully looked around the area without standing up, afraid to move less he accidentally harmed her. "Wee'in? Where did you go? " He asked quietly, hoping she'd come out of wherever she was hiding. "It's gone for now, look I'll even put up a barrier, aye? " He turned to reach and grab a little pad looking thing from his belt, using his thumb to push a button on it before he tossed it behind them. A blue hologram-like barrier popped out, protecting them both from that crazy gun if Moze couldn't catch it. "See? It's fine, you can come out now. " He assured, hoping she was still here and didn't leave entirely.

Soon he saw the little one peak out from behind the can, seeing the barrier he put up, it certainly made her feel a lot safer to see it there. She came out fully and wringed her hands, feeling a little ashamed for making him worry. "I'm s-sorry mister... " She muttered quietly, unsure if he even heard. He didn't hear it too well, but he could guess what she said based on her ashamed look. "Hey it's alright girl, no harm no foul. What's your name? " He asked, hoping to help calm her with some politeness. He watched her shift her feet before she looked up at him again, trying to be brave. "It's... Matilda, mister. " She answered shyly, but this time spoke up loud enough so he could hear her.

He lowered his hand slowly and offered her his index finger since it wasn't covered entirely by his glove, in a sense of a handshake. "Lovely name Matilda, name's Zane, Zane Flynt at your service! " He said cheerfully, but not too loudly still. He kept as still as he could as little Matilda stepped closer to his hand, before she took his fingertip into both of her hands, shaking it up and down slowly a few times. She then let go and took a step back, giving a sheepish smile. "Z-zane is a nice name too. " She complimented, seeming to be trying to get along with him. So far he was being nice and given her new size, she needed a friend.

The man smiled back, before he thought of something they could do to cheer her up about her new size, at least until he could possibly get Tannis to fix it. "Say, how would ya like to ride around on m'drone? So you don't have to be on the ground? " He offered as he put his arm straight out above her, as if he was calling an eagle or something. It wasn't too far off, for soon after a little hovering drone seemingly appeared out of nowhere with yellow, holographic fins and wings almost. It buzzed in a calming, soft way, but he kept it back in case she was scared of it.

Naturally Matilda was a little nervous but her childish wonder was taking over, as he was giving her more and more reason to feel safe, surely he wouldn't offer if it was dangerous, he seemed to really care about her wellbeing. So she pushed the nagging thoughts of danger aside and stepped closer, letting her curious side take over. "How does it work, mister Zane? " She asked politely, watching as it slowly lowered to the ground, then landed. To her it was the size of a full sized spaceship, not as big as the one they were on now of course but still of decent size. She assumed she couldn't crawl inside of it since it was a drone, thus not meant to hold anything besides ammo she assumed. So she walked around it curiously trying to figure out how she'd ride on it safely.

Zane looked at his hand that he used to call the thing. "It flies on it's own but I can direct it, it's a smooth flier though so you should be able to just ride on the top here. " He tapped a spot where she had a hand hold at. Matilda stopped and stood on her tippy toes to see where he was talking about, seeing the little handhold she could use. There were also fins on her sides so that would also help keep her on, the only way she could fall off is backwards and the drone had a natural tilt forward when flying so that made it even less likely for her to fall. She felt better in that regard and carefully began to climb up on it, being mindful where she put her feet in case it had some delicate spots.

Soon she was on it and shifted to get comfortable, despite it all being metal and such it wasn't that bad, at least it was smooth. "Okay uh... what do I do now? " She asked, but before she got an answer, the drone whirled alive again and slowly lifted up off the ground, then went higher, and higher until she was above Zane. "Woah~! This is cool! " She looked around in awe, feeling less intimidated and small now, being this high up. She watched Zane stand up and realized she was about eye level with him now, before the drone began to fly around the room. The child gripped tighter then, feeling a tiny bit nervous, like one would do on a roller coaster ride.

The ride was gentle though, the drone moved smoothly and easily through the hallway of the ship, Matilda looked back to see where Zane was and saw that he was following them. "See? Grand isn't it? " He asked, probably because he noticed her looking back. The girl nodded with a smile, looking around more as she felt more and more relaxed as time passed and nothing bad happened. "Yeah it is really cool. Thank you for letting me try it. " She said kindly, letting out a happy giggle when the drone turned to go down another pathway, past Marcus's place.

As Zane followed, he felt a warm, content feeling in his chest, something about using the drone, or any of his gadgets for something so... pure and whole, it felt nice, a different kind of nice than he ever felt before. The child was so happy, so at ease now and having fun, as any child should. He wasn't sure what to do in the long run, especially about her size problem, can the gun be reversed? He hoped Moze doesn't destroy it entirely once she does catch it, at the very least maybe they can bring the bits to Tannis and see what she has to say about reversing it.

They went around the safer parts of the ship for a little while, but then they heard another crash, some boxes tumbling over as Moze came rushing their way after the gun again. At first Zane thought nothing of it, but then his drone went into attack mode, aiming and firing at the landcrab she was chasing. The flying became reckless and erratic, causing the child to become frightened. "Ahhh! Slow down! " She told it, but of course it didn't listen, plus with it shooting made it even scarier, she wanted off this thing, now! But she couldn't really just hop down, it was way too far down. "Mister Zane! Please help me! " She called, holding on for dear life as the drone zoomed off, chasing and firing at the gun.

Zane heard her call for help and held his arm out, commanding the drone to stop. Problem was.... it didn't listen. "Shite! What the heck is wrong with this thing?!" He asked in frustration, commanding it again, but still nothing, it just recklessly charged off with the tiny precious cargo. He needed to get that poor child off of there before she got hurt, so he sprinted onward after his drone, Moze gave him a confused look but shrugged it off, figuring he was helping... somehow. The drone flew a bit higher than it was before, so he couldn't easily reach it, which was frustrating. "Hold on little one! I'm comin'!" He called back to her, reaching to try to grab the malfunctioning thing.

Matilda whimpered and continued to cling, but she could feel her grip slipping, her hands were sweating and thus, making it harder to hold on. She was happy to hear he was going to try to help her, she just hoped that he came quick enough.

Soon he did manage to grab the drone, with one hand on each side of it, his arms being barely long enough. However he ended up grabbing the back part, tipping the whole drone back in the process. He didn't notice though and instead opened his mouth to gloat about his success, ready to tell her that there was nothing to worry about.

Matilda was not out of the woods yet, for when the whole drone tipped back, it quickly became impossible to hold on. She let out a frightened scream as she slid off the back, flailing and scrambling to grab onto something but it was just smooth metal. Once her hands were off the drone and she was falling, she closed her eyes, not wanting to see the ground nearing before she hit it. She figured this was likely it, despite Zane's good intentions and all, she wasn't going to just walk away from this.

However sooner than she should have, she hit something, but it wasn't the ground, it was warm and gooey, but it stopped her fall. She opened her eyes and saw a dark, oddly reddish pink tunnel leading back and down somewhere, she couldn't tell where, it was too dark once it got to be about a few inches back. She then looked to her sides and saw this row of strange white rocks, jagged and coated in whatever this clear gooey substance was. The child then looked up, seeing a strange rippled roof with more of those.... rocks... Her heart sank as it began to dawn on her where she was and what happened, light was pouring in from behind her so... She carefully shifted on this plush, pink, slimy thing that twitched with a hint of life, turning her body around to see where she came from.

Matilda wasn't sure how it happened, but somehow she had managed to slip right into the man's mouth. It had saved her life, but now she wasn't sure what he was going to do. She could tell he was being very still, as still as he could anyway, but the whole place still moved and shifted a little, mostly with his breathing. She had to admit the warm air felt nice, her new tiny body got cold easily on this ship and his breath didn't smell too bad, she smelled worse things anyway.

Zane couldn't hardly believe what happened, the poor dear had slipped right into his jaws, almost slid far enough back to trigger his gag spot, that would have been bad. If that happened he probably didn't have much choice but to swallow her down to keep from choking on her. But that thankfully wasn't needed, especially once he carefully closed his mouth and leveled his head, as he didn't want her to fall out and he was still holding onto a wild angry drone. He couldn't talk, he couldn't really assure her or anything, he just cradled her tiny, frail body with his tongue as he wrestled the drone, reaching for its power supply to shut it off.

Matilda did her best to remain calm, knowing that if she freaked out he might gulp her down, either intentionally or accidentally. But being sealed in darkness was a bit unnerving, she didn't quite understand why he didn't just spit her out... Unless he wanted to eat her? The girl shivered to that, hoping she didn't taste good and maybe he'll change his mind. A part of her scolded herself for thinking that he'd ever purposely hurt her, but it was scary being in the jaws of another being, knowing that all he had to do was take one big gulp and that was pretty much it.

However, the more curious, adventurous side of her did wonder what it'd be like, sliding down that fleshy tunnel, warm and snug all around her, it almost sounded like a hug. She shook her head to snap out of it though, telling herself that being eaten is bad, plus he wouldn't want to anyway, right? The thoughts were confusing and conflicting, she was all mixed up and sorting them wasn't working too well.

Finally he managed to disable the drone, the thing stopped fighting him and powered down, obviously he needed to work on this one. "Hahah! Got you! " Zane heard Moze say, followed by the sound of something being destroyed, oh lovely. She came strolling up to him, holding what was left of the gun like a trophy, before slapping him playfully on the back with her other hand. "Thanks for the help!" She chirped before practically skipping off.

The slap made him inwardly cringe, still trying not to swallow the kid. With the drone off now he can let her out, so he tucked the drone under one arm, then opened his mouth and used his free hand to reach inside. He moved slowly so she could tell what he was doing and adjust accordingly, as long as no one else came by to bug him, this should go just fine.

The little one was left in darkness for awhile and the hit on his back made her stumble forward into his front teeth. "Omph!" It didn't hurt but it did surprise her. Thankfully she'd be out soon however, once she noticed his mouth was opening she backed up a bit, just... not too far back. His gloved fingers then softly plucked her up almost like a piece of candy, she was covered in his saliva, but happily warm. Soon she was looking at his face again, which looked apologetic and worried. "Feckit, I'm sorry about that, wee'in... " He said, sounding genuinely guilty, it was his drone and his idea after all, the poor dear could have been seriously hurt! And then the fact she fell into his mouth, he assumed that probably wasn't fun for her either.

Matilda was a bit shaken up about it, she certainly lost interest in riding it again, in fact now the wee girl just wanted to feel safe. She curled her body in his fingers, tiny hands wrapping around one of them to cling to. "I know you were t-trying to help... " She answered, giving a bittersweet smile to him, even if she still looked spooked. Zane put the drone on top of a metal crate for now and instead softly placed the girl in the palm of his hand for a more secure hold. "I was, yes. " He agreed, rubbing the back of his neck with his free hand.

Despite everything that happened, Matilda did feel safer with him than alone, finding herself holding onto his thumb for security. "I think I'm done w-with uh.... having f-fun. " She admitted, wanting to ask him something else but she wasn't sure how to word it. "C-could you... hold me closer to you? P-please? " Matilda blurted, saying it before her brain could stop her with nitpicking. The Vault Hunter quirked an eyebrow at her, but complied, moving his hand close to his chest, a bit above his stomach. The tiny girl smiled and found herself snuggling into his shirt, understandably needing comfort and wanting to feel safe. "Thank you... " She murmured.

Zane felt a little awkward, not really used to providing comfort like this, but seeing her happily curled up and holding fistfuls of his shirt in her tiny hands, it felt like he was doing something right. "You're welcome, young'in. " He answered, giving her tiny shoulder a gentle pet with one finger. He wanted to ask Moze to get those bits to Tannis, but he was a bit... preoccupied right now, protective instincts that he didn't know he had were flaring up. If anybody saw him now it looked like he was fretting over some tiny animal, which wasn't too far from the truth.

The little girl felt sleepy, it had been a stressful day, some excitement true but a lot of stress as well, she'd love to have a nap, but she couldn't rightly force him to hold her for hours on end, so she made sure not to fall asleep. "What are you going to do now mister? " She asked him, shifting to look up at his face, looking at his one pretty, to her, blue eye. "Uh well I should... ask Tannis about your predicament, see if she can reverse it. " He answered, hoping he could find some debris to give.

Matilda didn't like Tannis though, she scared her actually. "S-she won't stab me with needles... r-right? " She asked worriedly, not wanting to be experimented on. Zane didn't think about that, but now that he did, yeah... He should set some ground rules with her. "If she does I'll return the bloody favor. " He held up his other hand and allowed two large hologram looking blades come out of his wrist, going along the top of his hand and acting as almost deadly knuckle knives. He then snickered deviously at first, but he heard the little girl whimper softly and grip his shirt even tighter, right... that didn't exactly assure her any. He relaxed his hand and the blades went away, before he spoke up again. "No she won't, I'll tell her it's off limits. " He said firmly but gently as he started to walk back where the gun was destroyed.

She felt better about that and relaxed, blinking when he started to walk. She thought it'd be more scary, but it was actually rather soothing, like being gently rocked in a crib, there was no fear of falling or being dropped, his hand felt stable. Things were a bit of a blur from then on for the girl as he gathered up what he could, having no idea where Moze ran off to so they were missing that part, but he'd track her down if Tannis thought it'd help.

Next thing she knew, he was walking into her lab, which finally defrosted. "Oi, Tannis, I need yer help. " The woman turned from whatever she was doing to see what the Vault Hunter wanted. "What? Are you entrails falling out? " She asked since she saw his hand on his upper middle. He gave her a confused look before looking down, shaking his head. "No no, I... there's this wee child, she needs help but no feckin needles! " He explained a tiny bit better, giving her a threatening stare to make sure she knew he was serious. He then slowly and gently lifted Matilda from his shirt and held her out to the scientist.

She didn't touch the girl directly but looked into his hand, seeing the nervous, tiny thing, still damp with Zane's drool. "Oh very well, I suppose she is currently much too small for a needle anyway. What is it do you want me to do about it? I despise children. " She told him, turning away in disinterest already. Gosh she could be mean sometimes, he took a deep breath to calm his nerves, seeing the little girl in his hand become a bit more nervous. He wanted to let loose on her but he figured that would scare Matilda more than actually help. "I need you to return her to full size, she's not supposed to be this little. " Tannis turned around to face Zane then, hands on her hips as he placed the bits of the gun that caused this on her table.

"It looks like you tried to eat her already, that's saliva. " She pointed out as she ran a finger over Matilda's shoulder, feeling the slimy but drying spit. "Why do you care about something you tried to make a meal of? " She asked bluntly, waving a hand. Zane and Matilda glanced to each other as both of them were wondering how to explain that. "It was an accident! S-she fell in m'mouth! But I didn't try to eat the little one. " He protested, sure he did some pretty dark things for money, but eating innocent little children? That was too far even for him. Most of the people he killed deserved it one way or another anyhow, but certainly not this child. Matilda nodded in agreement to his words, wanting to defend her new friend, he really didn't purposely try to eat her.

Tannis quirked an eyebrow as she inspected the gun parts, listening to Zane's protest. "Hmm yes, if you say so. Inspecting these parts though, I've come to the conclusion that this gun is what caused her size change. " She announced, as if she figured out something special, then again Zane didn't explain so it was good she found out on her own. "... And the effects are not reversible, at least not without causing serious bodily harm. It's a miracle she managed to shrink without dying as it is. " She stepped back from the pieces and let out a heavy sigh. "I wish you buffoons didn't destroy this interesting weaponized piece of science so much. I could have replicated it! Or modified it! " She complained, unaware of the fact that she had crushed the two's hopes earlier.

Matilda ignored the crazy complaining woman and looked to Zane with wide, scared eyes. "I'm... going to be little forever? " She asked, hugging his thumb tighter with a pitiful whimper, as if she was about to cry. Zane gave the child a sympathetic look, for he too was a bit disheartened to hear that. To see her about to cry though he did panic a little internally, trying to think of something to do to comfort her while a curse slipped his lips again, but quietly. He brought her close again and attempted to hug her, gently holding her against his chest, next to his heart. "Shhh young'in, it's okay, we'll find a way to make it work. We just need to find a safe little place for you. " Perhaps he could set up a nice little home for her in his dorm, most people didn't go in there, either because there wasn't a whole lot to see or they didn't want to anger the Irishman.

The child welcomed the hug happily, snuggling into the operative like a lifeline and in a sense, he was. Where he was holding her now, she could even hear his heartbeat, providing the wee child a bit more comfort. Tannis went back to whatever studies she was doing, ignoring the two, so Zane soon turned and walked out, still holding Matilda close, rubbing her back with one finger. He decided to go to his dorm, they could have some privacy and think about what to do about her situation. It was scary being so small... and quite literally bite sized, as Zane had proved to her earlier. Strangely enough though, she kept thinking about how warm and soft it was... She knew she should be afraid of being eaten by him, but for some reason she wasn't. The young girl had the urge to just... somehow bury herself into him and hide.

Zane was thinking about that moment too, now that Tannis brought it up and said it in words, his earpiece... It read his brainwaves and could adjust functions in his body accordingly, within reason. He couldn't enhance himself beyond his physical limits, but it can stop or adjust certain functions... Such as digestion. It was a crazy idea, and he didn't really want to bring it up and freak her out even more, but he could very well safely tuck her away while he worked to give her something of her own to live in within his dorm. It was late and they both needed rest at this point, perhaps they should sleep on it? If the girl could sleep.

Matilda didn't know where they were going, not that she minded either, she was just happy to be held close and safe. "Let's go to m'room, you can stay there if you want, give me a few days and I'll set up something nice for ye. " Amara had a lot of pretty girly stuff, maybe if he asked her nicely, she'd lend him some or know where to get some. "Can we sleep there too? I'm really tired mister Zane. " Matilda spoke up, hoping maybe she could sleep on his chest or something, she wanted to be close, she didn't want to be all the way across the room, cold and alone. Since he was thinking the same earlier, he was of course perfectly fine with resting. "Of course wee girl. "

A few minutes later and they made it to his room, a few more drones he was repairing were scattered about, a few guns on the wall, a safe with his other goods in it, of course various bottles of booze laying around and a handful of dim lights. It was kinda dark and drab, but he had a nice window view out in space by his bed. He made a beeline for the bed and carefully sat down on it, thinking about where he could put her for now. He knew she didn't like space, so putting her by the window would probably be bad and... given how she clung to his shirt like she was, something told him she didn't want to be disturbed from that spot. "I'm going to lay down now, hold on. " He warned her, though he was holding her pretty good too. She just happily murmured into him and snuggled closer, the warmth of his body already putting her in a sleepy state.

Zane smiled, amused at the child's clinginess, before he swung his feet around and slowly laid back. It wasn't an overly comfortable bed but it wasn't bad either, it didn't give him back pains and that's all he asked for. Once settled he relaxed his hand to let her move around freely and soon, she did, stirring from her snuggly state, she sat up and looked around, avoiding her gaze from the window though. "Why is it so dark? " She asked, wondering if he liked keeping his place spooky to scare people off or what?

Zane honestly didn't give it much thought, he just got it and really he was so busy helping Lilith, he didn't have time to decorate. "Ehh, guess I just haven't gotten around to spiffing it up. Don't worry I'll ask Amara, she's a uh... friend, she'll help us find some nice stuff for ya. " There was Moze too but he was pretty sure he never seen a girly thing on or around her, so Amara was their best bet. Amara may like to punch bandits in the face with up to six fists, but she was a nice woman to small, defenseless things. Matilda didn't mean to diss his efforts though and patted his chest. "It's okay, I'm sorry it's just.... this is one of the darkest rooms I seen besides ones with no lights at all. " She explained, hoping she didn't hurt his feelings.

He wasn't offended though and just smiled, giving the tiny child a pat on the head with one finger. Though in doing so it reminded him of a somewhat serious concern with where she was currently relaxing at, should he fall asleep, that had something to do with her tiny size. "Uh, Matilda? You probably shouldn't... sleep on me, or next to me, you know? In case I roll over... " It wasn't a pleasant thought, but someone had to think of it or it could have gone badly. Of course he wasn't just giving her bad news to make her sad, he did have a possible solution, one he briefly thought about earlier and was becoming more and more likely that he'd have to do it.

Matilda pouted at him of course, even if she knew he was right. "Awww please~? I don't want to be alone... I want to be with you! " She chirped, trying to give him a puppy dog eye look. Zane chuckled in amusement, which caused her 'platform' to jostle a bit, but the flaps of his jacket helped keep her on him well enough. "Did I say I was gonna leave you alone? Relax kiddo, I have an idea for ya. " He answered in a cheerful voice, figuring his best bet to get her to agree to this would be to express it in a playful, light hearted manner. The sad look on the child's face remained, but she appeared open to listen to what he had to say. "Since you can't safely stay on me and we don't really have a decent place for you yet, then how about you stay in me? " He couldn't accidentally crush her then, but she'd still be close to him, closer than ever actually,

The girl tilted her head at him, surely he didn't mean... She was thinking about it earlier, but it was a crazy idea, and probably just as dangerous? If not even more so? "Uhh… you mean, your tummy? " She felt silly saying it out loud, it's probably not what he meant, it was just a silly childish idea spawned from being in his mouth for that short time. But she saw him pause, looking surprised, his blue eye glancing away, almost as if he felt bad bringing it up or something? Her tone was a little nervous sounding, but she wasn't nervous of the idea, she was nervous of him making fun of her for it. "That's exactly what I meant~ " He answered soon, keeping his tone light hearted and chipper, but it was easy to tell by the look on his face that he expected her to freak out.

And because of that, he quickly went into damage control. "But don't worry, I'll be gentle with ya little one, and it will be safe for you. See this-" He was going to explain how his earpiece worked, but Matilda cut him off. "No no, it's okay mister Zane, I trust you, you don't need to explain it to me. I... thought about it earlier... After I was in your mouth, it was so soft and warm in there and I know you'd never do anything to hurt me. " It was probably a little crazy of the child to put so much trust into Zane, but she was confident in his kindness to her.

The man was speechless, what does one even say to that? He just thought about and was offering to devour the little girl whole and she was perfectly fine with it? Even thought about it herself? It took him a moment to regain himself, but it didn't take long for him to resort to his usual casual way of handling things. "Well I guess... down the hatch, then. " It was usually a bad idea to swallow anything laying down, so he gently scooped her off his chest and shifted to sit up, lifting the small one up towards his face. She didn't cling to his finger this time and just looked at his eye, then his mouth, watching as his lips parted while bringing her ever closer.

Matilda felt a mixture of emotions, on one hand the sight was, in a sense, familiar, since she was in there not long ago. But she didn't see it at this angle, since she had her eyes closed while falling. Thankfully due to her distractions, he never ended up drinking anything today, which was a miracle in itself, so his breath remained clean, or as clean as it could be anyway. Soon Zane tipped his hand, not too quickly though, just enough to let her slide on his glove, down into his jaws. The tip of his tongue covered his front bottom teeth, giving her a nice, squishy landing pad.

Soon, the young tot was on the soft, plush tongue that had indirectly saved her life a bit ago. She landed on her front, which was fine enough, though facing his throat was a little scary, it got dark so quickly without much light to speak of. But the warmth and softness really eased any hints of worry she might be feeling, knowing that once he did swallow, she'd be safe and sound, tucked away from dangers like Claptrap and Tannis. The tip of his tongue lifted a little as he reeled her in deeper, just enough so that he could close his mouth again. With how dark his room was, it didn't make a whole lot of difference in how much she could see. So the tiny girl just relaxed, closed her eyes and waited for him to be ready. He was being very gentle with her and she couldn't help but imagine going down his throat would be something like a slide.

Zane was a bit stressed however, worried that any minute she'd freak out and panic, but once he swallowed there wasn't really stopping it, of course he'd let her out as soon as he could, but still. It was baffling in how she could trust him so readily. He still felt a little guilty about the drone mess, so he hoped that in a strange way, this will help redeem that for her. It was strange, feeling her in his mouth, another living thing resting on his tongue, despite her efforts to be still he could still feel her breathing and the tiny movements of just being alive. Carefully he moved his tongue to gently lick the child, needing to get her coated in saliva for a safe, smooth trip down, of course, in doing so, he created a monster.

As soon as his tongue began to lick her, she began to giggle and squirm around, at least as much as she could in his mouth, there wasn't much room inside once his jaws were shut. It was difficult getting her slickened up with all her moving around, but it was also kind of fun too, she was giggling and sounded happy, so Zane figured there was no harm in it and playfully licked her a bit more than he needed to, an amused, soft smirk on his lips as he did so.

He kept this up until the wee girl got tired, something he guessed by noticing her slower movements, that and the tiny yawn she let out. From that he stopped and let her rest, while mentally preparing himself for the next part. Matilda on the other hand was quite relaxed, especially after the tickle fest. The saliva that stuck to her was a little gross, but really it wasn't that bad. Soon though Zane decided to proceed, his tongue lifted up a little to ease her back towards his gullet, the flesh already becoming softer the further back she went. Then, after what felt like too long but wasn't really that long at all, the Vault Hunter swallowed, warm powerful muscle engulfed her in a soft hold, pulling her down out of his mouth and into his snug gullet.

Zane had the urge to gag, but he resisted and just swallowed again, another wave of rippling muscle helped ease her deeper without squeezing too hard. Now she was deep enough that his body took over and he was able to breathe properly again. Still, given she was still a mouthful, he could feel her sliding down closer to his stomach, it was somewhat tight, causing his esophagus to stretch some. The man carefully laid back and rested a hand on his chest, his heart fluttering a little as he worried, what if the little one got scared? She wouldn't let him explain how it was safe and that did worry him a little.

Soon the pressure released as Matilda entered his stomach, though now he could feel a comfortable weight inside, along with a funny, fluttery feeling as she moved around, though not in a panicked way, at least, it didn't feel like it. Zane moved his hand from his chest to his stomach then, looking down, though feeling dumb for doing so. "You okay, wee one? " He asked, hoping she could hear him. He wasn't sure how his voice sounded from inside of there, was it muffled? Did it echo? Or something else?

Truth be told, it actually rumbled around the child, almost vibrating in her bones with each word. It was a little weird, but she could understand him well enough. The trip down here was strange, impossibly slick and soft muscles engulfed her and guided her down here until she slipped through a tighter ring, which was sealing off the entrance to his stomach. Inside was pitch black, with soft, low rumbles and gurgles all around her, it was almost scary at first, but then the little one heard his heartbeat, and then his voice, it helped remind her why she allowed this to happen. "I'm okay mister Flynt, are you okay? " She asked, remembering how her parents used to warn her about swallowing too large of food, of course she wasn't food but she was swallowed and she didn't want to accidentally hurt his innards.

He chuckled lightly, amused that the child was worried about him in her current situation. "I'm fine young'in, just don't tell Tannis. " He told her, thankfully the scientist never showed much interest in him, too curious about Amara and FL4K and he rather keep it that way. He stretched his legs out and then slowly laid back down, crossing both hands over his middle with a content smile. He felt relieved that little Matilda was safe and sound now, he felt like he didn't have to worry so much, and he could sleep soundly. Though one thing did nag at the back of his mind, mostly something that made him quite curious, something he hoped she wouldn't mind talking about. "So... what was it like? When you got shrunken down? "

Matilda too was happy to relax, moving around in the soft belly until she found a cozy little spot for her to lay down at, after he laid down. The warmth was so welcoming to her, almost luring and even when he laid back, the shift in gravity wasn't that scary. She certainly understood why he wouldn't want that scary lady to know about this, she might poke him with a bunch of needles! Though after seeing his... sword gauntlet thing, something told her he could protect himself from needles just fine. The child yawned and was about to likely go to sleep, but then the Vault Hunter asked her a question. What was it like... ? It was a weird question, but she didn't mind answering. "Scary... " She gulped and shifted a little, thinking back on exactly how it happened so she could explain it to the man.

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Matilda panted as she ran down the hallway, having barely slipped away from that yellow short robot that looked like a box with one wheel trying to lock her and a bunch of other people in this room. She heard the robot call for her to come back but she wasn't about to listen, instead she turned away and barely managed to dodge a heavier looking man outside of some gun shop they had set up in here. But soon she tripped over some cord in the pathway and landed on her front. "Umph!" Her knees and chest stung a bit from hitting hard metal like that while running, causing her to whimper and move carefully as she tried to get up on her own two feet.

However just as she managed to stand, she felt something hit her in the back, like... A paintball almost but different. There was no paint and she felt tingly all over, like how if her arm fell asleep, yet her entire body felt this way. Matilda moaned and fell to her knees again, holding her forehead as her vision got fuzzy, just in time to see that land crab gun scuttle by her... That's what shot her! She tried to stand and hide somewhere, but it was more of a stumble behind some boxes and such, out of sight and out of mind hopefully, while she found it difficult to even keep her eyes open.

It was strange, as she made her way behind the boxes, she past a discarded beer bottle and it looked huge! Like a baseball bat or something. She shook her head and rubbed her eyes, trying to focus enough to reach behind her and see if whatever that thing shot her with, if she could get it out. The poor dear felt confused and terrified as she managed to pull the dart out from her back. It didn't really go deep enough to hurt her much, just a little pinprick at the worst, but it was obviously coated with some substance that really messed with her. She moaned again and dropped the dart, not able to really focus on it much as it rolled into a grate.

The child was brave enough to look at the bottle again and felt her heart skip a few beats, seeing it was even bigger! Closer to being a pony or something if it had legs. Matilda realized that this wasn't just her imagination, she was truly shrinking in size, quite rapidly too! What was she going to do? If that robot, Claptrap finds her like this, she'd be in even deeper trouble than she was before! As her body shrank further, her head did start to feel better and the tingling sensation lessened, though didn't entirely go away, since the toxin wasn't done working. But she was able to see more clearly and she could focus a bit better. She needed to hide, the robot didn't seem very smart so... She decided to make her way deeper into the discarded crates, which she hoped will give her some time to think about her predicament.

Soon enough the shrinking finally stopped, though at this point she knew she could crawl inside of that bottle, through the mouth. She couldn't see the bottle from here, but looking around the now towering crates, compared to what they were before to her, it became pretty clear. The tingling was gone and all in all, she felt... normal, no pain, no weirdness, she felt okay, except for the fact she was a fraction of the size now. She was scared, alone and now far too small to really do much... She wasn't sure what she was going to do. As she sat there, her thoughts swirling like a gentle tornado in her head, causing her worry and stress to skyrocket. That is, until she felt as much as heard someone stepping closer than they should... It wasn't Claptrap, he just rolled around on one wheel... Nervous and curious, she peered around some crates to see who it was that was approaching her hiding spot.

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Matilda blinked as she realized she had been telling him as she recalled the events, a faint shiver running down her spine as she listened to hear his thoughts on it. "So it was a dart, eh? Shame Moze had to destroy the thing.... " She heard Zane say, of course both of them knew Tannis didn't seem all too interested in helping anyway, for all they knew, she could even have had a hand in what happened. It did seem more... Scientific than your average strange gun. It was a lot to cope with, to realize she will be this small forever, but right now she felt safe, nestled away in the man's cozy, warm belly. "It's okay... Did anybody save those other people Claptrap stuffed in that room? " She asked, hoping if not, maybe he could? Being a Vault Hunter and all, surely he could stand up against a little robot like that.

"Oh right, yeah don't worry kiddo, they're fine. They were who told me about ya. " It reminded him that later, he should inform them that the child was safe and in good hands, though he probably shouldn't get into her current size predicament, in fact he should probably keep that as hush hush as possible, at least from anyone he didn't trust. He also hoped Lilith had a good long talk with Claptrap in private, namely about trapping humans.

The tiny one yawned again, feeling even more tired than before and while she wanted to stay up and chat with Zane, her body was desperate for sleep. She had been through a lot today, being shrunken, flying around on a drone, almost eaten, having to be face to face with Tannis, then actually eaten. "Good... " She said softly as she situated herself to lay down comfortably, knees slightly bent, laying on her side with her hands held close to her torso. "Can I... go to sleep now, mister Flynt? " The child asked, wanting to make sure it was okay before she drifted off. Though if it wasn't okay, she wasn't sure how she was going to stay awake.

Zane patted his middle lightly, an amused smile appearing on his face. "Yeah yeah, go ahead Matilda. " He answered casually, finding it kind of silly that she felt the need to ask permission. He then reached to grab his blanket and pulled it over himself, feeling tired himself, but he was going to stay awake until the kid went to sleep first. "Okay, thank you... Goodnight and thank you, for everything. " He heard her say, followed with the faint, fluttery feeling of her snuggling against the lining of his stomach for a moment.

"You're welcome, rest up now, we have some decorating and planning to do tomorrow for ya. " Was the last thing little Matilda heard, his words rumbling around her in a oddly comforting way. She wanted to answer back, but found herself drifting off before she could, lulled to sleep by the softness and warmth of his insides, followed with the sound of his gentle heartbeat. Her sleep was blissful and peaceful, for once in as long as she could remember, she actually felt truly and utterly safe, even in this harsh world.

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for reading! Feel free to share your thoughts, good or bad.


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